Use of social media to assess the impact of equitable state policies on LGBTQ patient experiences: An exploratory study

Yulin Hswen; Amanda Zhang; Kara Sewalk; Gaurav Tuli; John S Brownstein; Jared B Hawkins

doi:10.1016/j.hjdsi.2020.100410

Use of social media to assess the impact of equitable state policies on LGBTQ patient experiences: An exploratory study

Healthc (Amst). 2020 Jun;8(2):100410. doi: 10.1016/j.hjdsi.2020.100410. Epub 2020 Mar 30.

Authors

Yulin Hswen¹, Amanda Zhang², Kara Sewalk³, Gaurav Tuli³, John S Brownstein⁴, Jared B Hawkins⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Innovation Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: yuh958@mail.harvard.edu.
² Innovation Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Innovation Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Innovation Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Limited research has evaluated these equitable policies because of the difficulty of capturing LGBTQ patient experience. Previous studies have shown that LGBTQ persons report increased rates of discrimination across a wide variety of healthcare settings which may prevent them from disclosing their LGBTQ status. The goal of this research was to use a social media big dataset to evaluate the impact of equitable policies on patient experiences for LGBTQ persons.

Keywords: Digital health; Equity; Healthcare disparities; Healthcare policy; Healthcare quality; LGBTQ; Sexual and gender minorities; Social media; Twitter.

MeSH terms

Health Policy / trends*
Humans
Qualitative Research
Sexual and Gender Minorities / legislation & jurisprudence*
Social Media / trends*
Surveys and Questionnaires

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding